Welcome to Roses & Thorns. All books receive honest reviews, regardless of our sources. We are no longer accepting submissions. While the blog will remain live, I cannot continue reviewing books. My own writing is suffering from keeping up with two blogs. I will post my last review on May 29, 2017. Thank you Rose and Donna for your help, authors for the (mostly) great reading, and readers for following us.

Roses & Thorns

Thursday, April 2, 2015

Caelen's Wife (Books 2 & 3) by Suzan Tisdale

Blurb for Book 1: A Murmur of Providence is found here along with the review and the cover.

Blurb for Book 2: A Whisper of Fate

Will Clan McPherson ever know peace again?

Long ago, Fiona McPherson made a sacred vow to never let her clan fall or be absorbed into another. Honor will not allow her to break her oath. Devastated she leaves Caelen McDunnah heartbroken on the stairs of his keep — turning away from the only man she has ever truly loved. Still, she is determined to prove that Caelen is not behind the attacks. Will Caelen McDunnah’s heart ever know peace again?

Wrongly accused, Caelen enlists the help of Angus McKenna, chief of the Clan MacDougall. Spies are sent far and wide to help uncover the truth. Undeterred by Fiona’s belief that they can never be together, Caelen must find a way to make Fiona his wife.Will Fiona choose her clan over Caelen?

Blurb for Book 3: A Breath of Promise

The saga of Caelen's Wife concludes with A Breath of Promise.

Determined to make Fiona McPherson his wife, Caelen McDunnah is perfectly willing to set aside his own chiefdom in order to marry her. Is Fiona willing to make the same sacrifice? War is deadly. War is brutal.

When Fiona's brother, William, is kidnapped, the identity of the person responsible for the murders of three innocent people is finally revealed. Clans McPherson and McDunnah must join together to fight against a madman motivated solely by avarice. An epic tale of love conquering hatred, honor defeating greed, and finding a breath of promise even in your darkest hour.

Donna's Review

First, let me say that a month had elapsed between the
reading of the first book, A Murmur of Providence, and the reading of the last two books in
this novel. This series is NOT a trilogy in the formal sense of the word. Let me say
that up front. This may account for the disjointedness I felt in reading from the first book to the second, but it does not account for all of it.

Readers will know I am a huge fan of Suzan Tisdale. Her
book, Frederick’s Queen, which review you can read here, ranks as one of my
all-time favorite books, up there with the likes of Victoria Holt and Catherine
Cookson.

To be honest, Caelen’s Wife does not measure up to Frederick’s
Queen, but granted, that is a tall order. And of all Tisdale’s book,
this was near the bottom in my personal ranking. (And there are plenty of others to like if you have not read them.)

Part of the charm of any book is the high stakes “game” that
the hero and heroine engage in, both externally and internally. I never got the
sense the stakes were high enough for Caelen or Fiona. I do not think it was because of the month
long hiatus between the first and second books. I just don’t think they were
that high. The result is an enjoyable read, but not a super fantastic ride like
other Tisdale books.

Caelen’s Wife also seemed to lack the rich details of the
setting that I enjoyed in Frederick’s Queen. With that book the author turned a
corner between a good story to a great one by the use of imagery and details that pulled me into the
story and made me feel as if I was in Scotland. I did not feel I was there in
this one.

However, it is not fair to judge a book by an author’s
previous ones. And to be honest, the pulling together of a “great” book is an organic, living
sort of experience even for seasoned authors. It oftentimes happens without the
author even trying to do so, sort of a perfect mix between believable
characters with high enough stakes both internally and externally that their
life will truly not be the same if they do not achieve what they are after.
Even great authors have only one or two works that top all their others.

And you know me, whether I like a book or not I try to determine the "why" of it as far as story structure and content. Don't get me wrong, Caelen’s Wife is an enjoyable read. The
plot moves along at a reasonable pace. The characters of Caelen and Fiona jump
from the page as they struggle against themselves as well as unseen forces
determined to pit them against each other and later to tear them apart. The
prose is easily readable.

However, there was just nothing particularly special about it that drew my attention. Caelen’s not
wanting to love because of losing his first wife has already been done (even in
one of Tisdale’s previous books). Fiona’s belief she is barren and the
subsequent result has already been done by other authors. While their lives were difficult, and
Fiona loses people close to her, that has already been done. I just did not see anything particularly original.

But fans of Tisdale will still want to read this book,
especially now that all three parts are available to readers. Three and a half roses for this one.